I told you we went on a long car ride this last weekend. There was a reason though. We don’t just drive around for kicks and giggles with screaming kids in the back. I promise. We aren’t that crazy. My sanity does have a limit.

We were off to Clint’s grandma’s house for her 80th birthday party!

His grandma lives on a farm that Clint’s dad works (as well as his own). Clint’s grandfather died a few years back and this great lady lives on this farm all by herself. She was almost a victim of a nasty tornado last year. It took out her car port and two other buildings completely. Left the house itself (with her standing in the living room) completely untouched. She has angels watching over her.

I have helped do a little work on this farm too. I got to “disc”. I actually really enjoyed it. The seat in the tracter is really bouncy and if I stiffened my legs I almost bounced off the seat. Great fun!

In the fields are some oil rigs. Now, I always thought oil meant money. You know, Black Gold, means money. But apparently it makes pennies. I always thought Clint’s grandparents stashed away their Black Gold fortune. I was very, very wrong.

So why do they call it Black Gold? And how did the Clampett’s get rich? I can see Clint’s grandma now as Granny in the Beverly Hillbillies with a shot gun on the front porch.

They have so many buildings on their farm. They even used to have an airplane hanger. That was one that the tornado took out. It no longer had a plane in it. Clint’s grandpa crashed it a long time ago (don’t worry, he wasn’t hurt).

But then look at their front yard!

Just kidding. That is someone else’s front yard that we passed on the way to her house. AND THAT WAS ONLY HALF OF IT. You could barely see the house. I couldn’t tell if it was just where they parked all of this stuff or the stuff was junk and their yard was becoming a junk yard. The picture doesn’t do it justice.